[ BUSINESS BRIEFS ]

Foreign-fund inflows stood at US$162.84 billion at the end of last month, an increase of US$2.92 billion from a month earlier, the Financial Supervisory Commission said yesterday.

However, foreign investors trimmed a net NT$909 million (US$30.8 million) off local shares last month, the commission said.

For the first three months of the year, foreign-fund managers remained net buyers in local shares as they purchased Taiwanese stocks worth NT$147.11 billion, the commission said.

Naphtha cracker closure delayed

CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) will delay shutting its No. 3 naphtha cracker at Greater Kaohsiung to the end of next month to ensure the company’s petrochemical supplies are “steady,” a company spokesperson said.

CPC had planned to shut the plant permanently this month, because it is building a new naphtha cracker at Greater Kaohsiung that is scheduled to be completed by the end of the year, Jessica Tang (唐苑莉), a company spokesperson, said by telephone.

The No. 3 cracker is capable of making 230,000 tonnes of ethylene a year, while the new No. 6 cracker will have the capacity to produce 600,000 tonnes per year, data compiled by Bloomberg showed.

HTC faces US investigation

The US International Trade Commission (USITC) said on Monday it had voted to launch an investigation into an accusation of touch technology patent infringement against Taoyuan-based smartphone maker HTC Corp (宏達電).

The USITC said Immersion Corp, a touch sense technology developing and licensing firm headquartered in California, filed complaints in February and last month, saying HTC and Motorola Mobility Inc were infringing on its technology.

The commission said the products under investigation are smartphones with a feature that alerts users when a key or icon has been touched, for instance, by vibrating or pulsing in response to the touch.

CPC privatization not ruled out

The possibility of privatizing state-owned CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) has not been ruled out, but no timetable has been set for such a transition, Minister of Economic Affairs Shih Yen-shiang (施顏祥) said at a legislature committee meeting on Monday.

The minister was responding to questions from lawmakers at the Economics Committee on the proposed budgets this year of Taiwan’s state-run companies, which are overseen by the ministry.

Tax study group ready to meet

The Ministry of Finance announced yesterday that the task force on taxation and finance would hold its first study group meeting tomorrow afternoon for the issue of capital gains tax on stock investments.

The New Taiwan dollar gained ground against the US dollar yesterday, adding NT$0.026 to close at NT$29.480 as the continued strength of regional currencies gave local traders strong hints that they should raise their holdings in the Taiwanese unit, dealers said.

However, the greenback’s losses were squared by central bank intervention, in a bid to slow the pace of the NT dollar’s appreciation.